Anicca

15. The Devil

The Devil is the card of indulgences and material pleasure. When The Devil appears, it urges you to take a look at the feel good factors in your life and pay attention to whether they are actually good for you. In case the card pops up when you are feeling low, it may be a sign that a little fun may be exactly what you need.

For The Fool's next lesson in his journey, he needs to realise that The Devil isn't an outside influence. It is the little voice within us that makes us a slave to the material world and often lead us to ignorance and hopelessness. The power to overcome it is also within us.

Keywords:

Upright – Attachments, Restrictions, Commitment, Limitations
Reverse – Breaking Free, Quitting, Hitting Rock Bottom, Broken agreements and Commitments.

16. The Tower

Tower is the card for shock and Chaos. Something unexpected and surprising could shake up your beliefs, assumptions and the things you took for granted. Drastic changes are required.

The Fool realizes that sometimes a shock is exactly what one needs when they are too comfortable in their life not realising that people, things and situations in his life aren't actually serving him anymore. Time to make drastic changes.

Keywords:
Upright – Sudden Shock, Destruction, Questioning Beliefs, Chaos
Reverse – Warning, Mounting Pressure, Ongoing Chaos, Stubbornness

17. The Star

The Star is the card of hope, peace and Renewal. It brings optimism for a fresh start. It urges you to do what is practically required of you in the moment, but also continue dreaming of what an ideal future looks like to you.

After his entanglements with The Devil and The Tower, The Star brings in a serene calm for The Fool. He is now optimistic and feels the need to share his optimism for those around him. The Fool discovers the peace after a storm.

Keywords:

Upright – Optimism, Renewal, Boundlessness, Peace
Reverse – Hope without Action, Unethical Healer, Pessimistic Outlook

18. The Moon

The Moon is the card of darkness, illusion and the unconscious. It is time to let go the last bit of pretence and confront what you fear.

The peace after the storm can also be a deceiving feeling if there are things that you have not confronted from your past experiences. The Fool's lesson from this card is to take stock of everything around him and within him to be able to pick up on and false illusions that he still may be carrying with him.

Keywords:

Upright – The Unconscious, The Shadow Self, Confusion, Dreams, Intuition
Reverse – Denial, repressed emotions, Projecting onto Others

19. The Sun

The Sun is the card of light. It urges you to reveal and share your true feelings and emotions. It is also a time to celebrate and aligning yourself with your authentic self.

With this card, The Fool finally understand that no challenge is too much. He can face anything as long as he draws from his experiences and lessons to understand exactly how great his own capabilities are and is confident about them.

Keywords:

Upright – Enthusiasm, Clarity, Personal Growth, Self Acceptance
Reverse – Afraid to Shine, Burnout, Painful Truth, Attention Seeking

20. Judgement

Judgement is the card of drastic change, review and release. This is the one last reminder that change is inevitable and continuous. It urges you to look objectively at what has come before and measure up your success and failure to learn from them. Be honest.

The Fool now needs to make the final Judgement about his life. Now that he has shed his false ego and is more equipped to see and accept himself for who truly is, he needs to decide what to shed and what to keep with him to move forward.

Keywords:
Upright – Rite of Passage, Mature, Review, Transition
Reverse – Refusing to Change, Feeling Stuck, Numbness, Feeling Judged, Being Judgemental

21. The World

This card brings in an ending and a new beginning. It urges you to move beyond your own personal quest and think in terms of what you can give back to the world.

This card brings The Fool's Journey to a full circle as his current journey ends and he is ready to take on a new adventure. What kind of journey will he take on next?

Keywords:
Upright – Integration, Completion, Options, Wholeness, Connection
Reverse – Overwhelmed, Difficulty Finishing, Clinging to Past

That is it! We have now covered the Major Arcana through The Fool's Journey. We have certainly covered your Soul/Personality/Shadow Card today if we hadn't done it before. Did it resonate with you?

Shall we take a break and take time to get more acclimated with the Major Arcana cards? Or would you like a round up? Or shall we move on to Minor Arcana. Leave your intentions in the comment section.

QOTD: What is your main takeaway from The Fool's Journey. Which Major Aracana card did you feel most & least drawn to?

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

So, did you guys read my last post ‘How would you like to discover yourself in the cards?’ and did you look up your personality, soul and shadow cards? And did they truly resonate with you?

Traditional Tarot decks – like The Rider-Waite deck, have 78 cards. 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards, with 4 suits of 14 cards each. The Major Arcana represents major incidents, situations and learning curves of your life while the Minor Arcana cards deals with the everyday trials, tribulations, and situations of your everyday life.

The Major Arcana cards appear in your reading when you need to stop, take a moment, and pay attention to the theme in your life and the lesson that life is offering you. They also set the ‘scene’ for a reading and let the Minor Arcana cards add some more important details and some shades that relate to the bigger picture that the Major Arcana is painting.

Today, we will take on the Fool’s Journey to study the Major Arcana cards. The Fool’s Journey is a story that we can tell in order to help us get a glimpse into each Major Arcana making it easier to understand the set.

The first card in the Major Arcana is ‘0. The Fool’

1. The Magician

2. The High Priestess

3. The Empress

4. The Emperor

5. The Hierophant

6. The Lovers

QOTD: Have we covered your Soul/Personality/Shadow Card today? If yes, what impressions do you have of your cards so far?

I researched a lot about Tarot on the internet between the day I first felt myself attracted to a Tarot Deck and the day I bought my Tarot deck. And as you know, Google can be like going down a ‘Rabbit Hole’ especially if it a subject you know very little about.

I scrounged the internet for as much info as I could and tried out most of them before deciding what really worked for me. And today I am going to share them with you with a note that do what I did – take what resonates with you, and what works for you from this.

1) Let’s bust some myths:

- Tarot cards are Magic/Evil -> Tarot Decks do not have magical powers – good or bad. They are just pretty and colourful cards that have stories in them. The cards do not control or decide anyone’s life! It is the readers who bring in their own intuition to read the cards and decide what stories to tell and how to tell them. 

- You have to be a psychic to read Tarot Cards -> You don’t have to be a Psychic. All you need is your intuition. We are all born with a healthy dose of intuition – it is only a matter of developing it.

2) Choosing a Deck:

If you are choosing to learn Tarot because a deck called to you, then you already have this covered. But if that is not the case with you, I would advice you to check out multiple decks and see which one calls to you. Most decks have a ‘wow’ factor with beautiful artwork, and you need to remember to see beyond that. You’ll know it when you feel the pull, let your intuition guide you there. If you know someone who has multiple decks, check out theirs. Otherwise, you can also check out walkthrough and review videos of various decks on Youtube. 

And in case you are still unsure, here are some good beginner decks for your consideration:

The Original Rider-Waite deck is considered to be the best deck for beginners. And, for most part I agree with it because the deck has an amazing amount of details and comes with a quite clear instruction booklet.

The Light Seer's Tarot by Chris-Anne has a beautiful design where the artwork and depiction is different from that of Rider-Waite, but the cards follow the Rider-Waite concept.

Gilded Tarot Royale by Ciro Marchetti and Barbara Moore is an amazingly illustrated tarot that is both rich in its illustrations and symbolism making it easier to connect with them.

3) Handling and Maintaining Your Tarot Deck:

You need to cleanse your deck once after buying it and before starting to use it. It is also advisable to cleanse it between readings for different people and in general. Some common ways to cleanse your deck is using incense, sage you clear the energies around your Tarot. You can also leave them out in the open on full moon nights. You can also use crystals for the same.

Please keep your Tarot stored in a non-cluttered area. You can keep them in their boxes or in velvet pouches or covered in scarves to ensure that the energies are not disturbed. Black cloth or pouches are best in order to stop the cards being disturbed by external energies.

4) Connecting with Your Deck:

Handle your deck every day. Read them every day, shuffle them and in general keep them close to you. Some even suggest sleeping with the cards under your pillow in the early days. As we have learned, Tarot cards do not have any power of their own – it is your intuitive energy that helps you read them. As such, it is important that you deal with them as much as possible – especially in the beginning.

5) Learning Tarot:

Everyone has their own way of connecting and learning Tarot. In the following days, I am going to share my learnings with you all and would absolutely love it if you join me. But it is important to remember that no two people have same personality or the same learning style. So, it very well maybe that you will discover your own method of studying the cards. But few points to keep in mind are:

- Memorising the keywords is not enough. At the beginning, memorising the keywords associated with each card may be helpful, or even the only way for you to progress in your learning. But eventually it won’t be enough. So, even if you begin by memorising the keywords, take time to connect with the cards and see how each keyword is represented in the card. Only then will you be able to tell the stories that they are capable of telling.

- Always learn from 2-3 or more sources. While each card has a set of keywords, experienced Tarot readers develop their own way of interpreting not only individual cards, but also connecting the cards to make sense of a reading. All the different perspectives can help you see things more clearly and develop your own style.

I hope that this was informative for you. Next week, I will share a secret about how to find yourself in the cards and then we will delve into learning the cards one by one.